In recent years, cross-border electronic commerce has become easier through utilization of the Internet. “Online auction” is an example of electronic commerce utilizing the Internet. This is a system where a seller that has an item for sale uploads information on that item for sale onto an auction site on the Internet, and the buying price is determined through bidding by a plurality of buyers wishing to buy that item for sale.
Many electronic commerce transactions take a form of business-to-business (BtoB) or business-to-consumer (BtoC), however, in the case of online auctions, transactions are mainly in the form of consumer-to-consumer (CtoC). Accordingly, online auctions can contribute at large to the popularization of electronic commerce.
However, the Internet is widely used throughout the entire world, and addresses of the people participating in online auctions are also wide-ranging. Accordingly, there are many cases where a seller lives in the United States, whereas a buyer lives in Japan, for example. In the case where such international electronic commerce is conducted, the following points must be taken into consideration.
In many major industrialized countries in the world, including the United States, “Daylight Saving Time” (or “Summer Time in the United Kingdom”) is introduced every year. With this system, the clock is shifted forward one hour on a certain day for approximately half a year spanning the summer when daylight is relatively long, and in turn shifted back on a certain day for approximately half a year spanning the winter when daylight is relatively short. There are several reasons for introducing Daylight Saving Time; to economize energy or fossil fuels, be in line with neighbor countries, economic policy, and effectively utilize the daytime hours. Daylight Saving Time has been introduced in at least 70 countries in the world at the present. Particularly, among the 29 countries that have joined the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (ODEC). It is implemented in all ODEC countries except for Japan, South Korea, and Iceland where introduction of Daylight Saving Time is not needed because of the midnight sun.
More specifically, in the case of the United States, clocks are advanced one hour on the start-date of Daylight Saving Time by re-setting the clock so that one minute after 1:59 A.M. becomes 3:00 A.M. Then on the end-date of Daylight savings, clocks are turned back one hour by re-setting the clock so that one minute after 1:59 A.M. becomes 1:00 A.M. In North America, i.e. the United States and Canada, the start-date of Daylight Saving Time is set to the first Sunday in April and the end-date to the last Sunday in October. In addition, in Europe, i.e. the United Kingdom and EU affiliated countries, the start-date of Daylight Saving Time is set to the last Sunday in March and the end-date to the last Sunday in October. In the year 2000, the start-date of Daylight Saving Time is April 2nd and the end-date of Daylight Saving Time is October 29th in North America, whereas the start-date of Daylight Saving Time is March 26th and the end-date of Daylight Saving Time is October 29th in Europe.
In turn, for countries where Daylight Saving Time has not been introduced such as Japan, there is limited understanding of this system, and there is a possibility that confusion may occur due to time adjustment on the start-date and end-date of this system. Namely, due to the start-date consisting of 23 hours and the end-date consisting of 25 hours in this system, there is a one-hour time difference in the finish time of online auction accompanying this. Accordingly, an online auction valid for three days is normally conducted for a period of 24 hours×3=72 hours, however, in the case where the start-date of Daylight Saving Time is included in that period, the clock time at the end is one hour shorter than the clock time at the beginning. Similarly, in the case where the end-date of Daylight Saving Time is included in that period, the clock time at the end is one hour longer than the clock time at the beginning. Thus, if for instance, a Japanese person is to participate in this online auction, that finish time is difficult to ascertain easily, and there may be a possibility of losing the opportunity to participate in the last-minute bidding, which is the most important action in online auctions.
Furthermore, such a problem is not just a problem for those whose country does not adopt Daylight Saving Time system such as Japanese. Even in the case where both the seller and buyer live in the United States, a problem similar to the one above happens unless accustomed to the time adjustment on the start-date and end-date of Daylight Saving Time, which occurs only twice a year.
Particularly, the one-hour from 1:00 A.M. to 2:00 A.M. occurs twice on the end-date of Daylight Saving Time. Accordingly, in the case where the finish time of an online auction is at 1:00 A.M. on that end-date, ascertaining which 1:00 A.M. is the original finish time of the online auction is extremely difficult for even someone who lives in a country that adopts Daylight Saving Time.
Furthermore, the time for Daylight Saving Time adjustment, that is 1:00 A.M. or 2:00 A.M. in the middle of the night (around noon in Japan time), is a period of time when comparatively many people connect to the Internet. Therefore, time adjustment at this period of time increases the number of cases where hereafter caution is required in not only online auction but other electronic commerce transactions as well.